Northern Brewer Grain is not looking so good

[Beerfly]

Nope, I brewed many extract kits with steeping grains from them but switched this year to AG. Now I pay much more attention to details.

 

[pelipen]

I've had a couple "bad" crushes from NB, but you have to figure they are crushing for the average and most likely newer AG brewer and in a mass production. You wouldn't want to be posting how you always get a stuck sparge with their crush.
I had them crush mine knowing I would soon be getting a mill. I'd love to know the average number of AG batches before people buy a mill. I think I did three. For me, it was a hell of a lot better than using a rolling pin.

It's worth telling them, because they may not know it's a problem if they hired someone new, or the mill got loose.

I'll second or third that they have stellar customer service, and their packing is the best I've ever seen.

 

[two_one_seven]

Let us know when they send you another batch of rye and wheat........they will BTW.

 

[TarheelBrew13]

My take-away from this thread is that Northern Brewer makes a lot of mistakes but that they do a great job of fixing them and are really polite to their customers.

I think it's great that they have such loyal customers that are so willing to defend them but I don't think I would order from them after this. Who wants to order there supplies, wait to receive them only to find they are somehow messed up and them wait on the fix? Not me. I think I'll just go to my LHBStore. They are really cool and if they make a mistake it can be fixed the se day. Also, I like to buy local.

 

[thisoneguy]

My take-away from this thread is that Northern Brewer makes a lot of mistakes but that they do a great job of fixing them and are really polite to their customers.

I've ordered from NB a bunch of times and never had a problem. I'm not just some NB slappy, either; I shop at my LHBS and at other online retailers, too. Don't let your takeaway from this thread be that they just make tons of mistakes.... try ordering from them once or twice and form your opinion based on your experience.

I also have a mill, so I never order crushed grains... that seems to be the easiest way to avoid the whole "the crush from the store sucked" problem.

 

[two_one_seven]

I'm gonna update......since I can. I emailed Dan at Northern Brewer and he said that he heard from the OP and that the are taking care of the problem. I was curious since we haven't heard anything from the OP.......

 

[Beerfly]

Yes, they are sending out new crushed grains. The interesting part was the PM I recieved from another member with the exact same problem. Seems he didn't want to post in this discussion because he was afraid of being bashed. I guess when the other forum members are either employees or stock holders of a company they hamper the discussion.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

As a new AG brewer I appreciate a pictorial of grains that are incorrectly crushed. It helps me evaluate my grains when I crush them at the LHBS. Without that I would have nothing to compare with except the guy at the counter that telling me I don't need to double crush my grains. Now I know what to look for. I understand businesses reputations are at stake. Perhaps next time the OP should omit the vender name until initial correspondence has been made.

 

[sudsmcgee]

My 2 cents: If you brew all grain, you must own your own mill or at least have regular access to a mill. This is not an option.

At this point you could re-mill this grain and get two batches out of it.

 

[zachattack]

Yes, they are sending out new crushed grains. The interesting part was the PM I recieved from another member with the exact same problem. Seems he didn't want to post in this discussion because he was afraid of being bashed. I guess when the other forum members are either employees or stock holders of a company they hamper the discussion.

I don't think it's any type of conspiracy, I think most people here just realize that it's not cool to publicly call someone out on a mistake before giving them a chance to fix it. This isn't the "Northern Brewer Customer Support" forum.

You even admitted yourself that you shouldn't have singled out Northern Brewer, so why are you bringing it up again?

The reason so many people are defending Northern Brewer isn't because we all worship them, or work for them, or own a share in the company, it's because we've all had very positive experiences with them and they're known for their great customer service.

In general I think homebrewers in general are a rather happy/positive bunch. Negativity is a buzz kill! We're all in this hobby together, let's keep it positive

 

[jfrizzell]

[Edit]: Whatever...

 

[Beerfly]

Again, who bashed them? It has been established they are a fine company with excellent customer service. I find it amusing how you know my intent of the post and yet you are the one trying to change this from a discussion on grain crush to being personal. I already said in a previous post I should have kept it generic and not mentioned the company name. Like it or not, this is an on going problem and is why so many of the experienced brewers on this site recommend getting your own mill.

 

[Beerfly]

In general I think homebrewers in general are a rather happy/positive bunch. Negativity is a buzz kill! We're all in this hobby together, let's keep it positive

And I agree with this, this thread is not helping anyone at this point. Lets all move on.

 

[zachattack]

Haha and I realize I was redundantly redundant with that sentence.

 

[SixFoFalcon]

The issue some people find with this thread stems from the title.

Probably 99% of the grain that NB or any other homebrew supplier sells/crushes is barley. NB most likely crushes their barley just fine.

They screwed up on the other ~1%, but the title of the thread is just a generalization about how NB's "grain" isn't right. If the title was more specific to rye and/or wheat, no one would take issue.

Having said that, I don't see any evidence of "bashing" by either the OP or any of the repliers in this thread. It's just HomeBrewTalk.

 

[kh54s10]

My take-away from this thread is that Northern Brewer makes a lot of mistakes but that they do a great job of fixing them and are really polite to their customers.

I think it's great that they have such loyal customers that are so willing to defend them but I don't think I would order from them after this. Who wants to order there supplies, wait to receive them only to find they are somehow messed up and them wait on the fix? Not me. I think I'll just go to my LHBStore. They are really cool and if they make a mistake it can be fixed the se day. Also, I like to buy local.

This is totally ridiculous! NB is one of the largest online suppliers, they have several LHB stores. If they made A LOT they would not have grown to be the huge success that they are. I have made most of my orders from them since last July. I have had a problem with them just once. It was with hardware. It was taken care of with one email.

To the OP you need to proof read your post with a thought as to how it will sound to someone else. I get that you meant to make a warning that there
may be a problem with NB's crush.

It came off as a RANT that NB has lousy grain crush. If you added that you didn't think that it was a common occurrence and that you would be contacting them in the post you would not have gotten the same type of response.

NB rocks! :rockin: And no I have no stock in NB.

 

[iijakii]

Man I can't believe people are getting so hostile that you posted when you received practically uncrushed grain. You were honest about it and didn't bash them at all.

Extreme fanboyism.

Glad to hear NB is sending you new grain - hopefully they don't make this same mistake again in the future. Maybe they just had a rookie not know about huskless milling. Honest mistake, no big deal.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Most likely the passion comes from the multiple positive experineces others have had with this supplier. I have never bought from NB, as I am fortunate enough to have a brick and mortar LHBS nearby. Based on the OVERALL feedback in this thread, I would have no problem buying from NB if the need arose. NB reputation is intact, IMHO.

 

[Bones]

As a new AG brewer who doesn't own his own mill (yet), I will say that I also appreciated this thread for a few reasons.

1) I appreciated the pictures of what a less than stellar crush looks like. The more I can learn on someone else's dime/time, the better.
2) I also learned that crush can vary between husk-less malts and regular base malts and I may need to (or should) make special requests for gap spacing or double milling for certain types of grains. And for that reason, I appreciate the shared knowledge/experience with a particular supplier.....I now know to take extra precaution when ordering grain from NB to avoid potential brewing delays. Again, learning from someone else's experience.
3) And finally, I appreciated hearing that if I ever have an issue with NB, there's a good chance that they'll rectify the situation. So I just won't plan on ordering grain from them on a Monday for a Saturday brew-day until I've placed enough orders to be comfortable that I won't have to test their customer service.

Sure, perhaps the OP could've waited until he completed his due diligence and given them a chance to remedy the situation before "yelling fire in a crowded theater". But, by that same logic, we probably shouldn't be posting praises about any vendors until we've given them enough opportunities to screw something up.

Personally, I'd like to know if a supplier has a reputation for having to fix mistakes and having to re-ship orders/ingredients so I can take that into account when making my purchases. So why not share any and all experiences, good or bad? I dunno, I guess I'd just like to think that myself, and most others, are smart (and diligent) enough to take a single post for what it's worth and do a search or read up on suppliers before getting out the credit card.

 

[IffyG]

Man I can't believe people are getting so hostile that you posted when you received practically uncrushed grain. You were honest about it and didn't bash them at all.

Extreme fanboyism.

Glad to hear NB is sending you new grain - hopefully they don't make this same mistake again in the future. Maybe they just had a rookie not know about huskless milling. Honest mistake, no big deal.

It isn't fanboyism, it's the fact that people feel it is appropriate to rush commentary online without giving the merchant a chance to make things right.

Had the OP not admitted he hadn't waited to hear back from NB before posting, this would be a different story. Things happen with pretty much any online vendor. I've had some troublesome orders in the past and don't make a big deal out of it until they company fails to rectify the problem...

Personally I don't care what the problem is, failure to give a chance to fix it before putting something out on the interwebs forever is pretty pathetic.

 

[iijakii]

Well he actually posted that NB is making it right and sending him new grain, which would have been good press and a happy ending for all. But that post is lost and hidden in a 30 post long nerdrage outburst. It very much is fanboyism.

 

[OatStraw]

Well he actually posted that NB is making it right and sending him new grain, which would have been good press and a happy ending for all. But that post is lost and hidden in a 30 post long nerdrage outburst. It very much is fanboyism.

I agree. After reading this post I had to go back and find where the OP said they made it right. Thanks.

Good work OP and NB for working out your issue.

 

[stompbox]

I for one am glad he posted this. I know I will be a more observant when receiving grains from them.

It look at it as more of a public serveice bullitin. No need to get all uptight about it.

 

[IffyG]

I saw they they made the situation right, the issue that I have is he should have waited to make a post until after he gave them a chance to fix them problem.

A post that says "NB sucks at crushing grain" with no other point is perceived differently than "NB sent me poorly crushed grain, they sent me new grain, watch out for this if you have efficiency problems."

The original posts in threads like these are never edited to reflect the fact that the problem was resolved and therefore it appears negative to those that just skim through it... that's not fair to the vendor and it's why I wish people would refrain from posting until they give a chance for the situation to be solved.

 

[BrewKnurd]

So the one thing to consider for those who are mad he didn't give them a chance to make things right before posting... sometimes, depending on schedule and timing, there isn't a reasonable way to "make things right" if you screw it up the first time.

I'm not arguing one way or the other about whether it was "fair" or "right" or any of that. Just keep in mind that just because in your particular situation, a problem being fixed equals no harm no foul, doesn't mean it has to be that way for everyone else in every situation.

The OP came back and updated on what happened. Gave a full accounting of what happened. I, personally, do not see a big problem.

 

[BrewKnurd]

that's not fair to the vendor and it's why I wish people would refrain from posting until they give a chance for the situation to be solved.

Is just posting the picture of what he received unfair? Or was that ok, but the commentary unfair?

 

[IffyG]

IMO, anything directly naming the vendor in question should be withheld until contact is made. It doesn't matter to me whether or not it is a supporting vendor for a forum, a random seller on the internet, a local business, big box store, failing to speak with the vendor before chiding them online (which will float around for eternity) is poor form.

 

[Pilgarlic]

Someone please give a clear reason why a post like this shouldn't go up. I haven't seen the argument. The fact that some of you wouldn't have posted it isn't a reason the OP SHOULDN'T have. I can see objecting to the post if it was dishonest or malicious. It wasn't. So why should the OP not have posted it?

 

[BrewKnurd]

IMO, anything directly naming the vendor in question should be withheld until contact is made. It doesn't matter to me whether or not it is a supporting vendor for a forum, a random seller on the internet, a local business, big box store, failing to speak with the vendor before chiding them online (which will float around for eternity) is poor form.

Then I guess my other question for clarification: Is it OK for him to post those pictures after contacting NB, if he also says "and they've agreed to ship me new grain, but this is what I got the first time around"? Or is that also poor form?

For me:

Getting it right the first time > Getting it wrong but fixing it >>> Getting it wrong and not fixing it.

I believe that properly handling your mistake gets you close to just having gotten it right, but I can't get to the point where properly handling a mistake makes it as if the mistake didn't happen. The OPs post documented that the mistake happened, which it did.

 

[Brewskii]

I forget; why again is the original poster being crucified for Northern Brewers quality control issue?

How 'bout we get a new SOP for the guy on the mill and then advertise how good we are at making sure every order is right before we ship it -guaranteed.

Win-win